NASA launches earth-monitoring Landsat 9 Satellite in California

On Monday, US space agency NASA cleared the launch of Landsat 9. It is a powerful Earth-observing satellite containing four tiny satellites. Being a joint mission between NASA and US Geological Survey (USGS), Landsat 9 will monitor Earth's land and coastal regions that began with the first Landsat satellite in 1972.

Following the tradition, Landsat 9 satellite will take the orbital track of Landsat 7, which will be decommissioned.

Deb Haaland, who is the Interior Secretary, mentioned that the Landsat program provides “a rich form of data” that helps people’s everyday lives and is vital in dealing with climate change.

Teams from NASA and USGS will collectively work with a predecessor, Landsat 8, to extend a nearly 50-year record of land and coastal region observations. This data will be used to study differential patterns and evolvement of earth from 1972, the first Landsat.

Haaland further added that they are in the thick of the climate crisis right now. They see that every day drought, and wildfires. Hurricane Ida devastated parts of the South and went all the way up to New England. Images like the ones that Landsat 9 will bring back, will help them to guide and direct as in how to approach climate change.

The scientists will be working to make sure that with the data at hand they can make the best decisions possible so that people have water into the future and we all continue to grow our food.

The four satellites have been mounted on a ring-shaped frame, called the ESPA (Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle Secondary Payload Adapter). This ESPA will be attached inside the top section of the rocket, mainly CubeSats. When the rocket will reach its second stage, called the Centaur, it will drop to a lower orbit and send the CubeSats on their way.

From there CuPID will study the boundaries of Earth's magnetic field, to see how energy from the Sun can break through our planet's magnetic shield, while the CUTE will train its telescope on planets outside our solar system to study how quickly their atmospheres are escaping.

It is significant for this launch to be successful since this breakthrough technology could make future satellites easier to use and repair, with fewer moving parts to tear down.